


The Way We Were

by MzHxde



Category: The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Genre: Gen, all about rose, this is completely oc centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-27 15:10:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13883463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MzHxde/pseuds/MzHxde
Summary: Rosemary Hennessy was born into poverty but she was always rich in love. The story of a girl who lost everything before she became a woman with everything.





	The Way We Were

**Author's Note:**

> So this is basically just Rose's story (for the normal timeline not the modern au) from birth to sixteen. it doesn't contain any of the seven or any other characters. It's entirely back story for an OC

**"That's it one more big push"** the midwife instructed, Violet Hennessy was lain on her side on what could only be described as a filthy collection of blankets her legs parted with one in the air and a midwife between them, her baby was coming into the world. Violet's husband, Jack, was pacing outside the door with some other men from the building they lived in waiting to hear the first cries of his newborn, **"that's it Violet, that's it, here comes baby"** the midwife encouraged the exhausted woman and with one final push her baby was born.

The child emerged as all do covered in blood but the midwife was quick to wipe as much off as she could before clamping and cutting the cord so that the baby could be wrapped in a clean towel (brought by the midwife) and presented to the mother,

 **"What is it?"** Violet asked through the babies cries, she was exhausted but this moment was worth it. Her long dark hair clung to her face and neck with sweat and she was pale with exhaustion but none of that mattered right now,

 **"You have a little girl"** the midwife handed the new baby to her mother and watched with joy as Violet clung to her new daughter, this part of her job was always the best. Despite the long hours and the pain the mothers endured this bit made it all worthwhile.

Moments later Jack Hennessy came barrelling through the door, altered by his baby's cries, to see both his wife and newborn,

 **"Jack, it's a girl"** Violet beamed at her husband who knelt by her side, she gently offered the newborn to the red headed man who took her with slight trepidation as though she were made of glass and might break if held incorrectly,

 **"She's beautiful. What are we going to call her?"** Jack asked, he was so proud of his wife in this moment and couldn't wait for them to show off their new baby to the rest of the house,

 **"What about Rosemary? I had an aunt Rosemary, she was a wild thing in her day, mother never liked her"** Violet laughed, she had long since gotten to terms with her mother's hatred of the man she married and the life she chose.

 **"Hello there Rosemary, I'm your Daddy and this is your Mummy"** Jack held Rose close for a moment before handing her back to Violet,

 **"She's perfect"** Violet whispered before a spasm of pain through her abdomen made her cry out,

 **"Why don't you take baby and leave this bit to me"** the midwife told Jack goodnaturedly thinking it was just the afterbirth making its way out.

Both man and baby complied and left the room shutting the door tightly behind them to let the midwife finish her job. The men who had been waiting with Jack all clamoured to meet the new addition and no one paid much attention to what was happening behind the closed door of Jack Hennessy's flat until it was too late.

When the midwife came back out she wasn't bearing good news about how well Jack's wife was doing but instead she had the terrible job of telling this new father that his wife had passed away,

**"There was a lot of blood; I was unable to stop it. I'm so sorry Mr Hennessy but I'm afraid there was nothing I could do"**

**"No. No. It can't be. Violet!"** Jack handed Rose to a waiting neighbour and rushed into the flat to be by his wife's side, she was still warm but her chest neither rose nor fell and just as the midwife had said there was a lot of blood. Violet Hennessy was dead but her daughter lived on and Jack was determined to make a better life for her.

* * *

 

Rose spent her first few years in the tenement house while her father worked at a linen mill to try and save enough money to move them both away from the city with its disease, smog and death. While Jack worked Rose would be taken care of by neighbours or sometimes a nurse would come out and spend a few hours with the girl. She looked so much like her mother Jack sometimes couldn't look at her without feeling a terrible sadness for the love he'd lost. In these moments he had to remind himself that Violet would want them both to be happy and seeing Rose thrive as much as she did brought joy to Jack he never thought he'd feel again after Violet's death.

Eventually he managed to save enough to move both himself and Rose out of the city and into a small thatched cottage with a farm attached. The farm was owned by an English lord who had local farmers work it for him, they were paid pittance compared to the money offered by the linen mills but Jack worked the land not for himself but his daughter even if the work was gruelling and the hours long, he wouldn't have Rose going back to the city.

Rose grew into a bright, inquisitive child, curious about the world around her. She was most curious about the gun her father kept over the door in their cottage, mostly for hunting hare and rabbit or small land birds for their dinner. Rose demanded to learn to shoot it,

 **"Daddy works so hard I should work too"** she stated, arms crossed, face screwed up with a pout on her lips that made Jack smile,

 **"Alright then I suppose I have no choice, you've convinced me"** Jack laughed ruffling his daughters wild red hair, **"I'll teach you how to shoot it on my next day off"**

True to his promise Jack taught Rose how to shoot the rifle and how to hunt for the animals they found around their cottage. She was a natural with a rifle and became more adapt at hunting than Jack ever had and so it became Rose's job now to procure their dinner when Jack was working.

* * *

 

By the time Rose had hit her eleventh year she understood very well the hierarchy of her country. In the small local school she went to the teacher taught them about the famine and how the English lords kept the best crops for themselves leaving their farmers and the rest of the Irish people to starve and die, she learned about workhouses and what happened inside, how a family would be separated and probably never see each other again. Rose heard stories of girls who had left their families to work as maids in English homes, boys who left to work on ships never to be seen again, men who stole a loaf of bread to feed their starving family put on prison ships and sent to Australia on the other side of the world never to come home.

The more Rose learned about English tryany in her country the more she despised the English, she swore that she would fight against this oppression and return Ireland to it's native people. Of course things were never that simple and when she was sixteen Rose found out the hard way.

Jack was accused of shooting a hare that didn't belong to him. It was claimed that he had trespassed onto the land of the Lord who owned the farm and shot a hare on his property. It was a ridivulous accusation and Rose rallied against it but to no avail, no one would listen to the word of a child over a Lord and so Jack's sentence was carried out and he was hung from the neck until dead in the middle of the city all the while his daughter watched from the crowd.

It was in that moment Rose hardened her heart. She vowed there and then, should it cost her the same price her father paid, she would fight. There were already revolutions happening all over Ireland so it wouldn't be hard to join up with a group and join the fight, of course this was easier said than done.

After her father's sentence was carried out Rose was apprehended by a magistrate who gave her no choice about where she would go next but instead informed the girl that she was to be sent to England to live with her mothers parents and that her ship would depart on the following Monday. Until then she would remain in the custody of the Magistrate in a state run facility where they would prepare her for the journey ahead,

**"Perhaps when you are older and you have a husband of your own you might return to the country but as you are still a child this is what's best. You are lucky, not many children would be so fortunate especially the children of a criminal"**

Rose wanted to scream, to cry, to tell this man that her father was not a criminal but she knew it would do no good. They wouldn't listen.

So it seemed as though there was no choice after all, she would have to say goodbye to her home and leave for England. It wouldn't be forever though, Rose would see to that. She _would_ return.


End file.
